The Guardian
by SukoreanWarlord
Summary: I'm terrible at summaries, but I'll write one anyway. Percy is cursed by Tartarus and must complete many tasks to reverse it and be reunited with Annabeth. Um, takes place immediately after Percabeth falls into Tartarus. This is my version of The Mark of Athena. Warning: contains torture and death. There will be a happy ending. Better summary at beginning of chapter one.
1. We Get a Not-So-Warm Welcome to Tartarus

**This is a story of love and tragedy, danger and adventure. Don't worry though. It will have a happy ending. Advance Warning: there will be torture and death, and a little bit of gore. Or a lot. I don't know yet. Just a smidge of Pertemis, but this is a Percabeth fanfic. I will try to write this in the style of Rick Riordan, but obviously I won't be as awesome at writing as him. No one is. No like, no read. I don't own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Heroes of Olympus, or any of the characters**.

_Chapter One:_

_We Get a Not-So-Warm Welcome to Tartarus_

_Annabeth's POV_

I had thought there was nothing more terrifying than Arachne. Little did I know how wrong I was. Percy and I had just gotten to the bottom of a tall canyon, making our way toward the Phlegethon when the sound of slow applause echoed through the gloom.

"I have to say, little demigods, I'm impressed," a deep voice boomed. "To be honest, I didn't expect you to survive the fall. Well done!"

The voice sent chills down my spine. I shouted, "Show yourself, you coward!"

"Hmmm. I'll pass. I want you to meet my children first." The mysterious voice barked a command in ancient Greek, but I didn't stop and take the time to translate. I was already ocupied with more important things. Such as the army of monsters advancing from all sides.

Percy and I moved back to back, and he uncapped Riptide. I was unarmed, having lost my dagger to the river Cocytus, and my broken ankle wasn't helping. "Any ideas?" Percy asked.

"None at the moment, but I'm open to suggestions." Without warning, the monsters surged forward, too many to fight. Percy sliced a telkhine in half, then slammed the butt of his sword into the face of another. A Dracanae slithered toward me, and I judo flipped it over my shoulder, driving my elbow into its throat. It exploded in a cloud of dust.

We continued to fend off the monsters, but I was quickly tiring, and my ankle was screaming. I raised my arm to block a swinging club aimed for my head, but wasn't fast enough. There was a sharp pain on the back of my head, and spots danced before my eyes. Falling to my knees, I had just enough time to see Percy locked in combat with four cyclopes, hopelessly outnumbered, before losing conciousness.

**Sorry this was such a short chapter. I think the first chapter of all my past, present and future fanfics have short first chapters. I'll try to update soon. **


	2. Captured

**Hi everyone! SukoreanWarlord here. As my username suggests, I am a rather violent girl. So if I get any requests to make things more bloody, I shall have absolutely no trouble in doing so. Disclaimer in chapter one.**

_Chapter Two_

_Surrender_

_Percy's POV_

I had been planning to take Annabeth out for dinner today, and instead we fall into Tartarus. How romantic. When I saw an empousa flex her claws against an unconscious Annabeth's throat, I dropped my sword and held up my hands is the universal peace sign.

The instant Riptide was out of my hands, I was forced to my knees as my hands were tied behind my back. Sone sort of weird, shriveled old lady thing gagged me, which I found entirely unnecessary, as I was too terrified to talk anyway. The creature reminded me of a mini-fury. I was poked and prodded forward until we stopped in front of a stone fortress.

I was unceremoniously shoved inside and brought to my knees in a bow befor a black throne. Annabeth was placed on the floor next to me, and I looked her over for injuries. I breathed a sigh of relief. Apart from a lump the size of a chicken egg on the back of her head, she seemed fine.

A man in black robes sat on the throne, face hidden in shadow. "So, this is the famous Perseus Jackson. I have to say, I thought you would be bigger. A little tougher. You surrendered depressingly quickly," he said.

I rolled my eyes. _I highly doubt you were in top fighting condition when _you_ fell into Tartarus. _I assumed that our captor was a giant or titan, no doubt bent on revenge, too. I mumbled something about tearing apart the stupid sons of Gaea and saving Annabeth. To me, the gag muffled all attempts at speech, turning it into garbled muttering, but apparently my host could still undersunderstand me.

"Now, now. I we can't have you killing my sons, now could we? The Giants are only just reforming! I do try to speed that process along. We are in my domain, after all."

Dang it! Mentally displaying the more colorful side of my vocabulary, I thought some things that would've made Blackjack proud. Sons? So if this man was the giants' father, then...But surely it wasn't... As soon as I had the thought, I knew it was, because there is no way my luck would allow it to be anyone else.

"Perseus Jackson, welcome to the throne room of Tartarus."


	3. The Blessing of Tartarus

**I own nothing! Uncle Rick does!**

_Chapter Three_

_The Blessing of Tartarus_

_Annabeth's POV_

Blinking my eyes open, my first impression was of light. Or rather, lack there of. Slowly sitting up, I winced at the sharp pain in my ankle. Percy was sitting next to me, watching me, probably to make sure I didn't hurt myself. As the last of the fog cleared from my brain, I realized several things were amiss. First, Percy and I were in a dark cell. Second, there was a chain attached to the wall around my left wrist. Third, both Percy's arms were chained to the wall above his head, his ankles were shackled, and he had been gagged with a coarse piece of fabric.

I wasn't sure if I should be relieved that I wasn't in the same position, or offended that our captors obviously didn't consider me a threat. I moved to take Percy's gag off, and was frustrated to find that not only were we too far apart for me to reach him, I was unable to utter a sound.

I looked confusedly in Percy's direction like, _Why can't I talk?_ but he just blinked slowly at me, as if to say, _Don't look at me! You're the smart one. _Unable to pull free, I inspected our cell, taking stock of our situation. It was completely empty. The thick wooden door had a small window, weak beams of light filtering through the bars.

Both of us looked up when we heard footsteps in the hallway outside our cell. The lock clicked, and a cyclops stepped in, followed by a man in dark robes. I didn't recognize him, but Percy did. He glared at him, growling. Like, actually growling. Without a word, the man stepped forward and slapped me. My eyes widened, more from shock than pain. Percy growled again, straining against his bonds.

"Wonderful," the man drawled. "It seems to make that one mad to see you hurt," he said, aiming a kick at Percy's stomach. It was my turn to growl, albeit silently. "I like this one," he said, trailing his fingertips down my neck. _Eww_! I shuddered, jerking away. "Bring her to the interrogation chamber," he said to the guard. Immediately, Percy began pulling against the chains with renewed energy. The man leaned forward and removed his gag.

"If you _ever_ hurt her again," Percy said, then took a deep breath to calm himself. He looked down. "Just leave her alone. You can take me if you want, but don't touch her." I shook my head furiously at him, but he looked away.

"Very well," the man said. "But on my terms." He snapped his fingers, and several Dracaena slithered in, holding ropes. Percy and I were unchained from the wall. Our hands were tied behind our backs, and a rope was tied around our necks, like a leash. Percy's gag was replaced. We were dragged out of our cell and down a winding corridor.

We entered a room the size of a cathedral, where I was tied to a post facing a cage the size of a small bedroom. The man stepped into it, dragging Percy after him. Percy's leash was replaced by an iron collar with a chain bolted to the floor. "The ritual begins now," the man said. Immediately all the guards stepped back. Untying Percy's hands, the man produced a long silver dagger. With a sadistic grin, he carved a symbol into Percy's shoulder, who grimaced but didn't cry out. He looked briefly in my direction, but looked away again. I got the feeling he would have told me that he was fine and not to worry, if he hadn't been gagged.

He inhaled sharply as the man drew the dagger across his forearm, drawing blood. With an amount of pleasure I found entirely unnecessary, the man caught the drops of blood in a gold chalice, filling it to the brim. I looked away in disgust. When I next looked, the man was slowly pouring the blood in a circle around Percy._ Great. A blood ritual. I wonder what sort of diabolical thing the ritual is for. _He began chanting in ancient Greek as he drew the dagger across his own arm, golden ichor flowing from the wound. He added his own blood to the circle, and it began to glow red.

Still chanting, the man pressed his forearm to Percy's, mixing their blood like a tribal adoption ceremony. When the ichor hit his bloodstream, Percy fell to his hands and knees, shaking uncontrollably. I called out his name, though no sound came out, straining against my bonds. Black horns grew from his raven hair. If you have ever seen the movie Maleficent, they looked a bit like hers, only less curved. His hands became clawed, and black, batlike wings sprouted from his shoulder blades. He grew a long black tail with gold spikes, and his legs elongated, becoming scaled and dragonlike. I bet you can guess what color.

He looked at me with a pained expression, and I was startled to see flecks of red and gold in his sea green eyes, a thick black ring circling the irises. I realized his hair was longer, and a few shades darker too, if possible. He dug his claws into the floor in obvious agony, leaving deep gouges in the stone. Suddenly, his eyes rolled up in his skull, and he collapsed. My bonds and the cage disappeared, and I found I was able to speak again. Moving as fast as my broken ankle would allow, I kneeled next to Percy, and my heart went out in sympathy for him. He was still shaking, and he moaned softly. "What did you do to him?" I demanded.

"He has been altered to do my bidding. My servant, if you will," the man said. I glared at him, staring daggers into his chest, fists shaking with rage. "Now, now. No need to look so angry! In fact, I should think you'd be happy for him. After all, he's been given the blessing of Tartarus. "

**Scream! I loved writing this chapter, though I'm not sure why. Zero, FanFictionConnection, Ebony-The-Dragon, and all my other WOF readers, if you're reading this, what do you think? I'm so used to writing about dragons in my other fanfic that I turned Percy into a dragon-human hybrid. *girlish giggle* Please review! Oh, yeah. And if any of you peoples read Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland, I'm writing a fanfic for that series too. Check it out by visiting my profile. :)**


	4. I Make the Wierdest Discovery of my Life

**Um, I don't own HoO, PJO, or any of the characters. Uncle Rick does. Oh, and the characters may be a little OOC, and I apologize profusely for that, but it's kinda necessary with my writing style. For those of you who are new to fanfiction, OOC means Out Of Character. Anyway, here's chapter 4:**

_Chapter 4_

_I Make the Wierdest Discovery of my Life_

_Percy's POV:_

Pain. That was the first thing I felt when I regained consciousness. Searing, white-hot pain throughout my whole body. With herculean effort, I opened my eyes. Wow. That was pretty sad. When simply managing to open one's eyes seems like a monumental achievement, you know there's something wrong with you. I sat up with a low growl of pain, and when I realized there was something pinning my wings to my back -which is _very _uncomfortable, I might add- I lashed my tail in annoyance. Wait. _Wings? Tail?_ Since when did I have either of those? Huh. I'd have to worry about that later. Right now, I needed to find Annabeth.

Scanning the stone prison cell I was apparently being held in, I was relieved to see Annabeth sleeping in the far corner. I was _not, _however, pleased to find a heavy celestial bronze collar around my neck with a long chain attached. Further investigation showed that my "leash" was bolted to the floor. Like I said, it was long, but not quite long enough to reach Annabeth. "Schist," I muttered, a habit I'd picked up from Hazel.

"Annabeth! Oi! Annabeth, wake up," I called across the room. She twitched in her sleep, muttered something along the lines of "_Five more minutes, Seawead Brain," _and continued snoring. Suddenly, an idea struck. With my newly acquired tail, I caressed Annabeth's cheek with the tip, careful not to cut her with the razor sharp blades on the end. "C'mon Wise Girl, wake up!" When she still didn't wake up, I did the obvious thing. How do you wake up a child of Athena? "Hey Annabeth!" I yelled. "SPIDERS!" _  
_

She bolted upright with a strangled cry and punched the nearest convenient target: my tail. "Ow!" I yelled. "Geez woman, that's my tail you're grinding into the stone!"

"Percy? What-how - "

"That's what I'm trying to find out. I woke up and for some reason , I now have wings and a tail. And please, if you'd be so kind as to remove your fist from my tail before it breaks, I would greatly appreciate it."

"I-the ritual! Oh gods Percy, are you ok? Where does it hurt?" Annabeth cried.

"My. Freaking. Tail."

"Oh, sorry." She finally moved her hand, and I moved the afforementioned appendage far away from her fists of wrath. "So, where are we, and what the crap are these?" I asked, gesturing to my wings and tail.

"Um," Annabeth mumbled. "Tartarus _might_ have, um, maybe, given you his..._blessing_? With a blood ritual."

"Oi! What is his problem? He has the _nerve_ to give me reptilian features-" I started.

"I could research a way to fix it." Annabeth interjected.

"-and not let me use them?! How am I supposed to fly when my wings are chained down?" I finished. Annabeth came closer, leaning on the wall beside me. Hmpf. _She_ didn't get chained up.

"Hey, Percy? FYI, you also have Maleficent-style horns, claws, and your legs are now those of a dragon. Your hair is longer and darker, and you have flecks of black and gold in your irises." I patted my head, ran my fingers through my hair, and looked down at my hands and then my feet. Yeesh. I was more dragon than human.

I was just falling asleep again, with Annabeth leaning on my chest, when we heard footsteps echoing down the halls outside our cell, along with maniacal, sadistic laughter.

**Please Review!**


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